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Internal migration industries: Shaping the housing options for refugees at the local level

Author

Listed:
  • Bernt, Matthias
  • Hamann, Ulrike
  • El-Kayed, Nihad
  • Keskinkilic, Leoni

Abstract

In this article, we focus on ways in which 'internal migration industries' shape the housing location of refugees in cities. Based on empirical studies in Halle, Schwerin, Berlin, Stuttgart and Dresden, we bring two issues together. First, we show how a specific financialised accumulation model of renting out privatised public housing stock to disadvantaged parts of the population has emerged that increasingly targets migrant tenants. With the growing immigration of refugees to Germany since 2015, this model has intensified. Second, we discuss how access to housing is formed by informal agents. While housing is almost inaccessible for households on social welfare, the situation is even worse for refugees. This situation has given rise to a new 'shadow economy' for housing that offers services with dubious quality for excessive fees. Bringing these two issues together, we argue that housing provision to refugees has become a new business opportunity. This has given rise to a broad variety of 'internal migration industries' that provide the housing infrastructure, but also control access to housing. This not only results in new opportunities for profit extraction, but actively shapes new patterns of segregation and the concentration of refugees in particular types of disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernt, Matthias & Hamann, Ulrike & El-Kayed, Nihad & Keskinkilic, Leoni, 2021. "Internal migration industries: Shaping the housing options for refugees at the local level," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Online Fi.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:251861
    DOI: 10.1177%2F00420980211041242
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:cog:urbpla:v:5:y:2020:i:3:p:113-114 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Anita Aigner, 2019. "Housing entry pathways of refugees in Vienna, a city of social housing," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(5), pages 779-803, May.
    3. Matthias Bernt & Laura Colini & Daniel Förste, 2017. "Privatization, Financialization and State Restructuring in Eastern Germany: The case of Am südpark," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 555-571, July.
    4. Nihad El-Kayed & Ulrike Hamann, 2018. "Refugees’ Access to Housing and Residency in German Cities: Internal Border Regimes and Their Local Variations," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 6(1), pages 135-146.
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    Cited by:

    1. Wiedner, Jonas & Schaeffer, Merlin, 2023. "The refugee mobility puzzle: Why do refugees move to cities with high unemployment rates once residence restrictions are lifted?," SocArXiv rnzbc, Center for Open Science.
    2. repec:osf:socarx:rnzbc_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Tatiana Fogelman & Julia Christensen, 2022. "Translating the nation through the sustainable, liveable city: The role of social media intermediaries in immigrant integration in Copenhagen," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 59(11), pages 2388-2407, August.

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